Charles Melvin "Cootie" Williams was born on July 10, 1911, and died on September 15, 1985. He was an American musician who played the trumpet in jazz, jump blues, and rhythm and blues music.

Biography

Williams was born in Mobile, Alabama. He started his professional career at age 14 with the Young Family band, which included saxophonist Lester Young. Williams said he got his nickname as a boy when his father took him to a band concert. After the concert, his father asked him what he had heard. Williams replied, "Cootie, cootie, cootie."

In 1928, Williams made his first recordings with pianist James P. Johnson in New York. He also worked briefly in the bands of Chick Webb and Fletcher Henderson. Williams became well-known as a member of Duke Ellington’s orchestra when the band performed at the Cotton Club from 1929 to 1940. During this time, he recorded his own music, both as a freelancer and with other musicians in Ellington’s group. Williams was known for his "jungle"-style trumpet playing, similar to the style of Ellington’s earlier trumpeter Bubber Miley and trombonist Joe "Tricky Sam" Nanton. He also used a plunger mute in his performances. Occasionally, he sang, as heard in the Ellington piece "Echoes of the Jungle." Duke Ellington wrote a piece called "Concerto for Cootie," which later became the song "Do Nothing till You Hear from Me." Williams was the soloist in other Ellington compositions, including "Echoes of Harlem," "Harlem Air Shaft," and the religious piece "The Shepherd Who Watches Over the Night Flock," which was dedicated to Rev. John Gensel.

In 1940, Williams joined Benny Goodman’s orchestra. This move was widely noticed and later celebrated in a song by Raymond Scott titled "When Cootie Left the Duke." In 1941, Williams formed his own orchestra, where he later employed musicians such as Charlie Parker, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Bud Powell, Eddie Vinson, and others.

In 1947, Williams wrote the song "Cowpox Boogie" while recovering from smallpox. He had contracted the disease shortly after requiring all band members to receive a vaccination.

By the late 1940s, Williams had become less well-known. He had to reduce the size of his band and eventually ended it. In the 1950s, he played more rhythm and blues, toured with small groups, and performed at the Savoy Ballroom.

In the late 1950s, Williams formed a small jazz group and recorded albums with Rex Stewart, as well as his own album, Cootie Williams in Hi-Fi (1958). In 1962, he returned to Ellington’s orchestra and remained with the group until 1974, after Ellington’s death. In 1975, Williams performed during the Super Bowl IX halftime show. He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1991.

Death

Williams died in New York City on September 15, 1985, at the age of 74 from a kidney illness. He is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York City.

Discography

• Cootie Williams and His Orchestra (1941–1944) – released on Classics in 1995; includes his first solo recordings
• The Big Challenge (Jazztone, 1957)
• Cootie Williams in Hi-Fi (RCA Victor, 1958)
• Around Midnight (Jaro, 1959)
• Cootie (Decca, 1959)
• Porgy & Bess Revisited (Warner Bros., 1959)
• Do Nothing Till You Hear from … Cootie (Warwick, 1960)
• The Solid Trumpet of Cootie Williams (Moodsville, 1962)

• Duke Ellington, All Star Road Band Volume 2 (Doctor Jazz, 1985)
• Joya Sherrill, Joya Sherrill Sings Duke (20th Century Fox, 1965)